13. Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere, Gumilev
Part Seven, 1st section, A BRIDGE BETWEEN SCIENCES, WHICH ATTEMPTS TO EXPLAIN THE DESCRIBED PHENOMENON OF ETHNOGENESIS BY THE DATA OF ALLIED SCIENCES.
THIS IS HYPOTHETICAL, BUT DIFFERENT, ANY OTHER EXPLANATION WOULD BE COMBINED WITH IT.
XXVII. The field in the system of ETHNOGENESIS .
As long as ethnographers have constructed classifications according to visible indicators: language, somatic traits (races), mode of economy, religions, levels and nature of technology, there seemed to be a chasm between super-ethnoses and ethnoses. But as soon as we shift our attention to systemic connections, it disappears. Descriptive ethnography is replaced by ethnic history, which records both the stable relationships between the various elements of the super-ethnic system and its interaction with neighboring systems. And then it turns out that what was considered an abstraction exists, and it is weighty and effective. So, terms like "Hellenic culture" (including Macedonia and Rome), "Muslim world," "European civilization" that spread to other continents, the "Middle Empire" (China, an ethnically extremely mosaic country) or "nomadic Eurasian culture" (Turks and Mongols), are not mere words, but designations of technically objectified and socially framed sets of ethnic entities that stand one order of magnitude above those available to observant ethnographers.
Obviously, in the era preceding the emergence of writing, ethnic assemblages of this order emerged no less frequently and went through the same phases of development, leaving behind monuments of flint flakes, garbage heaps and shards of pottery, and sometimes surviving as "tribes" in inaccessible jungles or on isolated islands.
But if so, many isolates considered to be in the "early" stages of civilization are, at an extremely low level of technology, the final rather than the initial phases of ethnogenesis. Such are, for example, the Pygmies of the African rainforest, the Aborigines of Australia, the Paleo-Asian ethnic groups of Siberia, the Fire-Earthmen, and the Pamir Mountains[1]. The degree of their adaptation to the natural conditions is so great that it allows them to maintain their existence as part of the biocenosis, without resorting to the improvement of tools and weapons. However, this system of relationship with nature and the ethnic environment imposes limitations on population growth. This is especially noticeable in New Guinea, where until recently a Papuan youth received the right to have a child not before he brought the head of a person from a neighboring tribe, recognizing his name, because the number of names was strictly limited. In this way Papuans maintained their equilibrium with the natural resources of the area they inhabited. This is a near-zero level of passionarity. In other respects they are not inferior to dynamic peoples.
As a rule, persistent ethnoses constitute stable systems that include, in addition to human populations, a certain number of elements of living nature and technically organized spatial matter. This means that the ethnocenosis (as we shall call the complex we are describing) includes, along with humans, certain domestic animals, domesticated plants, and things - as household items. Eskimos are unthinkable without dogs, igloos and kayaks, even if they hang internal combustion boat engines from the latter. The Tungusians are associated with reindeer and barks, the Arabs with camels, the Pueblo Indians with maize cobs, etc. A disruption of the ethnocenosis, if small, only deforms the ethnos, and if large enough, destroys it.
Sometimes, but by no means always, the destruction of ethnocenosis causes the extinction of ethnos and, at the same time, of animals and plants connected with it. Often only the system is destroyed and its components are part of other ethnoses and ethnocenoses. And it also happens that with the complete extinction of an ethnos and the disruption of ethnocenosis, the repeatability of ethnogenesis with some deviations from the original type is still observed. This is called cultural continuity. Thus, the rhythms of Roman culture continued to be felt throughout Europe many centuries after the Roman ethnos disappeared and the Roman Empire perished in its wake. But if so, then we have stumbled upon the notion of ethnic inertia, while inertia is a physical phenomenon. And how can there be inertia in a body that has ceased to exist?
Obviously, something is missing in our analysis. So, we need to introduce a new concept, and, jumping ahead, let's say directly - there is an ethnic field in nature, similar to the known electromagnetic, gravitational and other fields, but at the same time different from them. The fact of its existence is manifested not in individuals, or in reactions of individuals, but in the collective psychology affecting persons.
ETHNIC FIELD
The principle of the field is realized in the life of the individual and the species universally, in all its manifestations and at all stages. It is not difficult to see that these manifestations themselves fall into two categories. One of them embraces the processes of development of the species, i.e. the transition of the latent (potential) form of its existence into the unfolded (actual) one. The others consist in the behavior of the elements of the organic whole (from an individual, to a “colony" of a species) ensuring its existence, its integrity (vital unity) as such and preservation of its form.
In both of these cases there is a coordinated action of numerous elements of the whole, i.e. the field principle is manifested. But in the process of development, its object (the individual) is also formed, i.e. it is continuously changing both morphologically and physiologically. In accordance with this, developmental fields (embryonic or morphogenic fields) are also characterized by dynamism. At any given moment any field of a developing organ or of a young developing individual is different from the one it was at the previous moment.
In contrast, the fields regulate the behavior of the elements of an organic entity, which ensures its preservation in integrity, relatively static, conditioned by the presence of the type of a given group. But it is clear that the unity peculiar to higher taxonomic groups cannot fail to extend to other aspects of their being. For us, this unity is manifested not only through the form, but also through the behavior of these groups in the evolutionary process in which they participate, each as something whole and unified. This is evidenced quite clearly by the existence of regularities in the evolutionary process, not only those common to all or most organisms, but also those that are characteristic of particular groups.
From the fact of the integrity of groups and their unity, expressed in the unity of their structure and behavior in the evolutionary process, we can conclude that there are fields that regulate and coordinate this process. These fields can be called phylogenetic fields. Since the properties of a particular type of group are its most complete characteristic, we can see the essence of the evolutionary process in the evolution of group types. In this case the notion acquires a dynamic meaning, whereas so far it has been used in a static sense[2].
Thus, studies in history, ethnography, and even psychology have allowed us to return to natural history in the full sense of the word. As humans are part of the Earth's biosphere, they cannot avoid being influenced by biochemical processes that affect their subconscious or the sphere of emotions. And emotions, no less than consciousness, push people to do things that are integrated into ethnogenic and landscapeogenic processes. As a result, a passionary generation emerges that loses its passionary inertia due to environmental resistance and transitions to a relic state of ethno-landscape equilibrium disturbed by a new passionary push, i.e. a micro-mutation.
Supra individual behavior manifests itself most clearly in the collective actions of social animals. In human society, the actions of the collective are determined by the goal consciously set by the collective or its leader. Guided by this goal and having a certain plan for its achievement, people build cities, develop different branches of economy, distribute their livelihood, etc.
Social insects also build common dwellings for the whole colony, jointly obtain and distribute food, bring up their offspring, etc.
The essence of supraindividual behavior in animals does not have a sufficient scientific interpretation. It is often called instinctive. But what do these epithets explain? The theory of natural selection provides an answer to the question of the origin of both instincts and all properties of organisms in general. But, first, the explanation in terms of this theory of these phenomena is as little convincing as the explanation with its help of the whole process of evolution, and, secondly, knowledge of the origin of any phenomenon itself is not enough to understand its essence.
We will not attempt yet to determine precisely the nature of nad-individual behavior and to resolve the question of the origin of instincts. It is possible that at present we not only lack the necessary factual data, but even the concepts themselves, which should be used in this field, have not been worked out. But this does not prevent us from collecting the facts related here, classifying them, noting the observed regularities, and trying to interpret them on the basis of the general provisions we do accept.
Applying the field principle to all manifestations of individual and species life, we concretely imagine the objects of this field. The reality of the individual is evident directly. However, it is not only biologists who unconsciously recognize it; for notions denoting species, such as "dog," "crow," "viper," "bream," are common even in everyday life.
Species as reality is manifest through its unity. But for anyone who uses the methods of systematics, it is obvious that not only species are realities, but also ethnicities are, since they exist in historical unity and have a common historical destiny.
RHYTHMS OF ETHNIC FIELDS
The concept of the role of the ethnic field is presented here in such detail because, when transferred to ethnology, it solves the most difficult problems.
It is necessary to confer on the meaning of the terms we use. These terms, even if they do not coincide in detail with those accepted in related sciences, will explain the author's thought to the reader, as such understanding is necessary for further parsing of the story. Let's put it this way: the field of an organism is an extension of the organism beyond its visible limits, hence the body is that part of the field whose frequency of force lines is such that they are perceived by our senses. It is now established that the fields are in constant oscillatory motion, with one or another frequency of oscillation[3]. These vibrations, i.e. "vibrating stimuli, have the peculiarity that they are freely transmitted from one medium to another and have a general character of propagation in solid, liquid and gaseous media. Vibrations of the air environment in the band from 16 to 20,000 Hz are perceived by humans as sound stimuli.
There is no special-receptor organ for perception of the vibration itself in the body", G.I. Akinshchikova writes and further provides data on the mode of normal vibrations for internal organs and neurological and physiological disorders, occurring under prolonged exposure of the organism to these vibrations. The circle of vibrations affecting a person includes fluctuations of organ activity, daily, monthly, annual and multi-year, caused by the influence of the Sun, the Moon, geomagnetic field changes and other influences of the external environment[4]. This observation alone is sufficient for interpretation of all collected ethnological material. Only the ethnic system will have to be taken as the benchmark of the study, i.e. to pass from the organismal level to the population level.
Based on the given data, it is clear that a certain frequency of fluctuations, to which the system (in our case - ethnic) has managed to adapt, is for it, on the one hand, optimal, and on the other -there is nothing to develop and nothing to do for it. However, these rhythms are disturbed from time to time by jolts (in our case, by passionate ones), and the system, rebuilt anew, tends to a blissful equilibrium, removing the elements that interfere in this process. Thus, at the level of the ethnos, there is a bizarre combination of rhythms and excesses, bliss and creativity, with the latter always agonizing.
One more thing. Speaking of outbreaks of ethnogenesis in different regions, we rejected the rhythmicity of these phenomena not out of general philosophical considerations, but simply because the hypothesis of rhythmicity contradicted observations. But fluctuations of the ethnic field (we will call it so for the convenience of our presentation), with a certain frequency can be equated to a rhythm, the intensity of which changes during the process of ethnogenesis. Let us try to explain it: a string (or a tuning fork) starts to sound after a plucking, but its vibrations gradually become weaker, and the sound fades; and if it is plucked again, with another force, it will sound again, but stronger or weaker. And since there are no literal coincidences, and in reality there is not one string, but a huge orchestra with the acoustics of the hall, all ethnic fields are not similar to each other, although they obey the same pattern: attenuation of the initial impulse, caused by excess (micro-mutation). This explanation, even if we consider it unproven (inductively), is confirmed by the fact that it explains all known facts, and this is recognized as necessary and sufficient in the natural sciences.
We perceive the described ethnic field (or a phenomenon equivalent to it) as an ethnic affinity or, on the contrary, as an alien one. The principle characteristic of all ethnicities - the opposition of oneself to all others ("us" and "not us"), which is in the immediate sense, can be interpreted from the proposed point of view simply. When bearers of one rhythm encounter bearers of another, they perceive the new rhythm as something alien, to some degree disharmonious with the rhythm that is inherent in them organically. The new rhythm can sometimes be liked, but the dissimilarity is fixed by consciousness as a fact, which has no explanation, but also does not cause doubt. And the rhythms of the ethnic field manifest themselves in a stereotype of behavior, as has already been said, inimitable.
Apparently, it is just because of the ethnic field that ethnic groups, torn apart by historical destiny and influenced by different cultures, don't fall apart. They can even regenerate if the causes that disrupted the original rhythm of the ethnic field are eliminated. Hence, incidentally, the explanation of the phenomenon of nostalgia. A person abandoned in an environment of strangers, even sympathetic ones, feels a strange uneasiness and nostalgia. But these feelings subside when he finds his countrymen, and disappear when he returns home. Neither climatic conditions nor the availability of comforts matter.
The proposed interpretation removes doubts about the primacy of the perception of ethnicity. Since the basis of ethnicity is a biophysical phenomenon, it is ridiculous to consider it derived from social, environmental, linguistic, ideological, etc. factors.
And now we can answer the question: why are there "non-national," i.e. unethical, newborn children? The ethnic field, i.e. the phenomenon of ethnicity as such, is not concentrated in the bodies of the child and the mother, but manifests itself between them. The child, who establishes a connection with his mother with his first cry and first sip of milk, enters her ethnic field. Staying in it forms its own ethnic field, which then only gets modified through communication with the father, relatives, other children and the whole nation. But the field is weak at the beginning of life, and if a child is placed in a different ethnic environment, it is the field that will change, not the temperament, abilities and capabilities. It will be perceived as a change of ethnicity, and as a child it is relatively painless.
The personality of the person is formed in the first three to five years of life. According to A. S. Makarenko, a child who was not brought up properly before the age of five needs to be re-educated.
L.A. Orbeli created "an experimentally sound theory of maturation of unconditioned reflexes already after birth under the influence of the external environment. And it is very dangerous to alienate a child under the age of three from his or her mother - or, more precisely, from a person who is not so much nurturing, but rather affectionate, attentive, kind. Such separation often leads to decreased intelligence, abnormal social behavior, increased vulnerability and aggressiveness[6].
It is clear that it is not the gene apparatus that is at work here, but the biofields of "child and adult interacting during communication. The above is true not only for personas, but also for systems of a higher order - ethnoses.
ETHNIC FIELD AND ETHNOGENESIS
Above we have explained only two ways in which ethnoses emerge: by divergence and by fusion. Now we will talk about the most important point - the creative formation, not just the rearrangement of the existing elements. We noted that the trigger moment of ethnogenesis always coincides with a sharp rise in the level of passionary tension. Resorting to a metaphor, we can say that the reaction of synthesis occurs only at high energy intensity, when the primary components, ethnic substrates, lose their structure for a moment and crystallize again in hitherto unprecedented combinations.
We noted such periods of heat in the 2nd century AD. - In the 8th century, when simultaneously a Muslim super-echelon was formed and a Byzantine monarchy was formed. - In the 9th century when medieval European nations were formed and in the 12th century - the birth of Mongolian and Turkic tribes and the formation of North-Chinese ethnos. - with the birth of the Mongol and Jurchen ethnoses, and in the 14th century, when the Velikorosses appeared. Each emergence was obviously preceded by an incubation period, but it is impossible to uncover and describe it by studying visible history. However, having established a pattern, we are entitled to draw the logical conclusion that not only the recorded historical ethnic groups arose in this way, but also those ancient ethnic groups which have either survived as relics or are only mentioned in ancient sources.
It must be remembered that the history of mankind is unevenly illuminated. But if we do not know the dynamic processes of ethnogenesis of Paleo-Asians, Teulchians (Patagonians), Melanesians or Khoisans (Hottentots and Bushmen), there is no reason to believe that they did not have their acmatic phase. On the contrary, based on the regularity we have identified, it should be assumed that all ethnoses had their heroic age and their heyday. But cruel time has swept away the memory of these epochs", for where tradition is interrupted and there is no deciphered writing, traditional historical methodology is powerless. Therefore, let us limit ourselves to what is possible, necessary and sufficient for our purposes.
These and many similar phenomena cannot be explained on the premise of the expediency of behavior and, therefore, the existence of a conscious choice of one's destiny. Here we are confronted with subconscious, spontaneous processes determining, statistically of course, the behavior of the ethnic masses. The rhythms of the "fields" of the Chinese and nomadic super-ethnoses were so different that the friendly contact between them, even dictated by political considerations) has never been strong and lasting. And this is no accident.
When a given rhythm is combined with others, either harmony or disharmony can theoretically arise. In the first case there is an ethnic fusion, in the second - the rhythm of one or both fields is broken, which also breaks their bonds and leads to a kind of annihilation.
But when there is a passionate push, or explosion, the fields with broken ties lose their intrinsic rhythms and acquire a new one, which they didn't have until now. The character of a new field depends on the strength of the shock (mutation), on the landscape conditions of the region, on the genetic code of its constituent populations, on the level of social development, on the stability of cultural traditions, and on the ethnic environment, either inert or sharply hostile. We can count many more defining moments, but here we will not describe it in a cursory way, in the passing passionary impulses and their consequences, because it is advisable to do it separately. Ethnogenesis - first strengthening, usually short-lived, and then a gradual fading of the vibrational movement, and ethnic contacts - interference of vibrations of ethnic fields. And the entire ethnic history consists of ups and downs.
So, ethnogenesis is a natural process of the biosphere, occurring occasionally and being a component of ethnic history along with three constant factors: 1) socio-political, for people have always established a certain order of relations in their collectivity; 2) technical, for there is and was no human without tools; 3) geographical, for livelihood is drawn from the surrounding nature, and since the landscapes of the Earth are diverse, so are the ecosystems, including the people. These three parameters are enough to characterize any homeostatic ethnos, but the dynamics of ethnogenesis goes at the expense of the fourth factor - passionarial impulse, appearing sometimes in certain areas of the Earth's surface and generating not one ethnos, but a group of ethnoses, called super-ethnos, i.e. the system, in which separate ethnoses are blocks, links and subsystems.
THE NATURE OF SUPER-ETHNOS.
But still, what determines the proximity of members of a super-ethnic system? Why are they able to enter into creative links with each other and cannot extend them beyond certain limits, separating one super-ethnos from another? As we have seen, the mismatches of the different super-ethnoses are so great that forced combinations of them lead to demographic annihilation. In other words, no matter how much the French knights admired the manners of the Arabs, the education of the Greeks, the courage of the Celts or Lithuanians, and the indomitable energy of the Cumans (Polovtsians), only ethnic ruins appeared in the regions of contact. Figuratively speaking, if two massive solid bodies, when they come into contact, create friction, then debris falls around, which cannot be restored to its former physical state. The processes of destruction during contact at the super-ethnic level are irreversible.
Right. But even inside the super-ethnos there is a diversity of: 1) socio-economic structures, 2) races, first or second order, 3) languages, 4) customs and everyday practices, 5) religions. Let us consider all these particular attributes in sequence, for there is a constant tendency to mistake one or another external attribute for the underlying essence of the phenomenon.
The "Christian world" at the end of the twelfth century used many languages: French, Provençal, Castilian, Galician (also Portuguese), Basque, Breton, Tuscan, Neapolitan (there was no Italian then), Saxon in southern England and Norwegian in northern England, different dialects of German, Danish, Swedish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Latin. Even in one large duchy or small kingdom there were people who had different mother tongues, but this did not prevent them from communicating with each other. They learned their neighbors' languages or used Latin as the language of culture and religion.
Arabic, Persian, Turkic dialects, Syriac, and Kurdish were also spoken in the "Muslim world. In Byzantium alone in Constantinople the languages spoken were Greek, Armenian, Slavic, Isavrian, and they tried to write in Ancient Greek[7].
The conclusion from this is unambiguous: as we have seen, the language is not an ethnic feature, and consequently the difference in the languages does not interfere with the mutual communication.
It is absurd to speak about a uniform economic structure of the super-ethnos in the XII century, because the most part of the population lived as subsistence farmers, and consequently did not need contacts with their neighbors. The most lively economic ties took place at the outskirts, precisely where mutual destruction was taking place. Economic life was quite intense in the cities, but here there was negative population growth, In the crowded and unhygienic conditions any infections took many lives, but the cities were again filled with people from the countryside.
The races that made up the super-ethnoses were very different, and their combinations were random. Blue-eyed blondes from Normandy and Saxony, green-eyed brown-haired men from Burgundy, black-haired, wiry Provençal men, nosey Italians (descendants of the Syrians who had settled Lombardy in Roman times) and Spaniards who could not always be distinguished from Arabs, even went on the crusade together.
In the ranks of the Muslim armies fought side by side Turkmen and Sudanese blacks, Hamits from the gorges of the Atlas and Kurds from the slopes of Ararat. And the Arabs themselves, with lush Bedouin genealogies, had mothers or grandmothers who were Georgian, Nok, Italian, Sogdian, Hindu, Circassian and Abyssinian. No, the racial composition showed only the scope of the conquests, not at all the anthropological monolithicity of the super-ethnos.
There were no similarities of cultures or "information communications" [8] either. This was hindered in part by social and activity patterns, and then by territorial disunity. A boy who was preparing himself for knighthood or battleship had to practice fencing and riding from the age of six, otherwise he would die in the first battle; a man who wanted to become a priest was cramming Latin; an apprentice bent his back on cloth or planking for a barrel, a peasant herded cows and trimmed grapes. Everyone was so busy with his own business that they had no time to talk to each other. And their professional interests were so different that the need for "information communication" was negligible. And if the English of Northumberland were preoccupied with the raids" of the Scots, the inhabitants of Kent or even more so of Bordeaux did not want to think about them, although both had the same king, and the Caliphate broke up into territorial emirates with an ease that surprised the Arabs themselves, although the link between the scientists of these sovereign states had not been broken. But do theology and philosophy determine the commonality of an ethnos?
Besides, it is worthwhile to talk only when different opinions are encountered. But then there is debate and strife. Such was the dispute between Bernard of Clairvaux and the monks of Clairvaux versus Pierre Abelard and the students of Paris. But this did not break the integrity of Christendom.
Bernard succeeded in purging the Catholic Church of illiterate priests, profligate bishops, and raised two kings to crusade: the French Louis VII and the German Conrad III.
Abelard gave the Catholic Church a philosophical system -conceptualism, one pope (Celestine II), one heresiarch (Arnold of Brescia), 19 cardinals and 50 bishops. Excommunicated, Abelard withdrew to the monastery of his opponents, Cluny, where he died in 1142, reconciled with his persecutors. So what counts as a "clot of communications"? A quarrel right up to the bonfire or a tacit agreement in the face of force? Or, more simply, are notorious informational links not a factor of ethnogenesis, but an indicator of belonging to one of the opposing sides?
Even more formidable was the discussion raised in North Africa in the same twelfth century by the Berber theologian Ibn Tumart against the Tuareg marabouts (hermits), about the "unity of the Gods”. Simple-minded ignorant people understood the likeness of God to man literally, in the sense that God has hands, face, etc. Ibn Turmat stated that "his hand of Allah are one of his properties”, in this case his actions, and his countenance is one of his properties, such as hearing, vision," and what those hands actually are is beyond human comprehension[9]. It would seem that this is where the "communicative information" should have been set up, but no: the "unity" advocates, the Almohads, slaughtered the "polytheists"-the Almoravids. The reason for the bloodshed can hardly be considered a theological disagreement, which few people understand. The Berbers were simply fighting the Tuaregs, as is commonly believed.
The dispute over the divine attributes has persisted in Muslim theology for a millennium, but it has not always led to bloody consequences. On the contrary, persistent and exterminating wars arose and were fought under other slogans, such as the defense of the right of the descendants of Ali and Fatma to the throne of the Caliph. Consequently, it is not a matter of scholarly language, but of something else, which must be found.
But if we have discarded all the visible reasons for the monomorphism of ethnic groups, then how can we explain the uniformity of the processes of ethnogenesis with the dissimilarity of systems among themselves? Obviously, there has to be an invariant factor.
Yes, there is one. Let's name it: the constellation of the space-time energy relations which deforms ethnic substrates of the region. And then let's explain what it means.
Imagine a wide tray with a non-smooth bottom, on one edge of which are poured a ridge of balls of different sizes and weights. Let's push this row of balls with a shovel. Those that are hit will roll with different speeds, others will stay in place. Those that have rolled will gradually stop and form a new bizarre figure. If we push again in another place, the figure will be different, because of the dissimilarity of the volume of the balls, their inertia and the irregularities of the surface on which they are moving. But the new figure will also be a consequence of the push. This is an image or scheme, but now let's turn to reality. A passionary push (micromutation) captures a certain region and gives the ethnic groups there a movement, fading due to the loss of passionarity, the sign of which is removed by selection. At the beginning of the movement new systems emerge, in relation to which the old ethnoses play the role of substrates. All the affected ethnoses of a given region rearrange their relation to the feeding landscape and the ethnic environment (neighbors), which creates an apparent diversity. But because they all received the same impulse, they reveal traits of similarity (rolling in the same direction). This is what unites them into a super-ethnos.
But can we compare the super-ethnos with a "cultural circle" or an ideological concept that emerged simultaneously with the passionate impulse? Such an idea is tempting, but it's only a temptation. In the ranks of the Muslim armies fought side by side Turkmen and Sudanese blacks, Hamits from the gorges of the Atlas and Kurds from the slopes of Ararat. And the Arabs themselves, with lush Bedouin genealogies, had mothers or grandmothers who were Georgian, Nok, Italian, Sogdian, Hindu, Circassian and Abyssinian. No, the racial composition showed only the scope of the conquests, not at all the anthropological monolithicity of the super-ethnos.Two examples will suffice.
By the fifth century Christian doctrine had spread by preaching from India to Ireland and from the Caucasus to Ethiopia. And everywhere it triumphed, but. The similarity achieved through heroic deeds and sacrificial sermons was limited to the realm of dogmatics, details of worship, and stray literary plots (e.g., the legend of the Grail). And this proximity was only a moment at the passionate peak, and then everything went in disarray.
Egypt, aspiring to spiritual independence, became Monophysitic, the Nestorians went to Mesopotamia, under the protection of the Iraqi Shah, Rome "fell away" by itself, heading a new super-ethnos, and in Arabia, Islam united all the heresies, persecuted in Byzantium, and successfully synthesized them into a confession, which became the symbol of self-affirmation for Arabs. Cultural continuity was there, but the natural process swept past it, washing away all the dams created by men.
The fate of Buddhist preaching is similar. This teaching disappeared in its homeland of Bengal, but in Ceylon, Japan, China, Tibet, Siam and Mongolia it took such different forms that even its dogmatic basis was lost; only the terminology and the name of the Buddha, Shakya Muni, have survived. However, this man is also revered by Christians as St. Prince Josaphus. Again, as in the Grail example, cultural influence does not mark ethnic affinity.
So the invariant of super-ethnos lies in the sphere of geography and is defined by a combination of the impulse of the passionate push and the landscape peculiarities of the region. If two, three or four regions separated by geographical barriers are affected by the impulse, then a corresponding number of unconnected super-ethnoses appears. However, being of the same age, these super-ethnoses develop synchronously, unlike the others that appeared earlier or later. Then the collisions described by us and others like them arise.
The substrates for the new ethnos are also the neighboring ethnoses, unaffected by the passionary impulse. The ethnic environment always influences the character of ethnogenesis in any phase except homeostasis. Consequently, each new ethnos is secondary to the preceding ethnoses in and around its territory. At the same time, the emergence of a new ethnic group inevitably affects the neighboring ethnic groups and their development, even if it is not interrupted by the activity of the newly emerged ethnic group. The mechanism of ethnic development is complex, but its principle should be clear.
No, not only benefits and material goods form the stereotype of people's behavior! Their love and hatred are to a large extent connected with the subconscious element of the psyche, thanks to which the words "their own" and "alien" are not abstract concepts, but feelings of really existing ethnic fields and rhythms. That's why ethnoses and their clusters - super-ethnoses exist for thousands of years and don't crumble like houses of cards due to random blows or shocks. But when passionarity disappears, i.e. the force that vibrates the ethnic field, the symphony fades and the ethnos (or super-ethnos) crumbles of its own weight.
CHIMERA .
It often happens so that ethnic groups "sprout" into each other. Inside one super-ethnos it does not cause any tragic consequences, but on the super-ethnic level such metastases create chimerical compositions[10] leading to their death. In the scheme, the mechanism of the process is as follows.
The super-ethnic system, emerged as a result of the push, is closely connected with the nature of its region. Its parts and subsystems - ethnoses and subethnoses find an ecological niche for themselves. This gives them all an opportunity to reduce to a minimum the struggle for existence and find opportunities for coordination, which, in turn, facilitates the formation of social forms. Blood flows under this situation also, but not very much, and it is possible to live. But if this system is invaded by a new alien ethnic entity, it, not finding an ecological niche for itself, is forced to live not at the expense of the landscape, but at the expense of its inhabitants. This is not a simple neighborhood or symbiosis, but a chimera, i.e. a combination in one integrity of two different incompatible systems.
In zoology, chimeric constructions are, for example, those resulting from the presence of worms in the animal's organs. An animal can exist without a parasite, while a parasite without a host dies. But, living in its body, the parasite participates in its life cycle, dictating the increased need for nutrition and changing the biochemistry of organism with its hormones, forcibly injected into blood or bile of the host or parasite-carrier. This is the difference between chimerism and symbiosis. In symbiosis, for example, a hermit crab carries an actinia on its shell to protect it from enemies; the actinia, moving on the crab, finds more food.
In symbiosis at the super-ethnic level, both components feed on the gifts of nature and coexist, which does not exclude occasional conflicts. But all the horrors of super-ethnic clashes even possible in symbiosis pale before the chimera poison at the level of super-ethnos. Or a third possibility, already mestization at the level of ethnos or sub-ethnos can produce either assimilation or a relic sub-ethnos, which has no lethal results.
Naturally, the strong, passionately tense ethnic systems do not allow foreign elements in their environment. That is why chimeric constructions are rare in Western Europe until the XII century. As an example, the state created by the Order of the Swordsmen in the Baltics, which conducted military operations with the participation of Livonians and were fed on the account of the Letts and Kurs, who were converted to serfdom. Neither Livs, nor Letts needed a bloody war with Pskovites and Lithuanians, but they found themselves in a system where foreigners were pushing them around, and there was nowhere to go. So they had to lay down their heads for someone else's cause.
Another example of a marginal (frontier) chimera is Bulgaria. Around 660 the Bulgarian horde, driven out of their native Caucasian steppes by the Khazars under the leadership of Asparuh, captured the Danube valley inhabited by the Slavs. The Bulgarians were representatives of the steppe Eurasian super-ethnos, and their symbiosis with the Slavs for nearly two hundred years was a chimerical system. But Bulgarian was the little part, and their part had dispersed in the Slavic environment, and that part has settled in Dobruja and Bessarabia, i.e. on country edge [11].
In 864 the weakened Bulgarian tsar Boris has accepted christening that has marked occurrence of his people in that super-ethnos which we have conventionally named "Byzantium". But this only increased the number of elements of an already unlimited ethnosystem. Together with Greek Orthodoxy came to Bulgaria Malo-Asian Marionism and Bohumilism, on account of which the ideological disorder within the country intensified. The war with Byzantium became more and more violent, until it ended with the fall of the Bulgarian kingdom in 1018. Only in 1185 were the Bulgarians freed by the Walachian Aseni, with the help of the Eurasian nomads, Cumans, who were in symbiosis with the Bulgarians and Wallachians.
One element of partial ethnoparasitism is the institution of the slave trade. The enslavement of another human being has as its necessary premise the conviction that he is different from the slave-owner. For the Egyptians and Anglo-Saxon planters, it was the Negro, for the Romans the barbarian, for the Jews the uncircumcised, for the Muslims the kafir, i.e., "infidel," etc. But they also turned their own into serfs.
Curiously, the institution of debt slavery was always considered immoral and met with resistance, led by legislators: Solon in Athens, the author of Deuteronomy in ancient Israel, etc., while the enslavement of foreign tribesmen was considered natural even among the Tlingit and Aleut, the hunters of sea-beasts. Slave labor was inapplicable in this trade, so slave girls were used as domestic servants and slaves were killed in initiation rites.
Recall that the Ilotes of Messenos resented not being robbed and killed, but that the same noble Spartiates, also descendants of Heraclides, did so. This shocked the Hellenes, even though they were all inveterate slave owners and slave traders.
In the classical slave-holding country of ancient Hellas, the victors in inter-tribal wars did not deprive the vanquished of their personal freedom, but taxed them. Thus, the ancestors of the Thessalians, who came to this plain from the islands of the Pindus, called the Hellenes who subjugated them penestes (poor people). It is undoubtedly a social phenomenon, like the feudal enslavement of the provinces of the collapsed Roman Empire in the 5th century.
As the ethnos matured, morals became stricter. In 435 B.C., the Corcyrians took Epidamnon, a Corinthian colony, and sold into slavery those prisoners who were not from Corinth, like the Corcyrians themselves[12]. The same thing happened in 413 B.C., when the Syracuseans threw captive Athenians into quarries and gave them very little to drink, and they sold the non-Athenians who had not died of thirst into slavery. The adversaries began to be seen as enemies[13].
The Romans were more consistent. When the legions of Vespasian took Cremona in 69, they killed all the inhabitants because they could not be sold as slaves because they were Roman citizens[14]. Here is the same social phenomenon, and the difference from the Arab, Portuguese and Anglo-French slave trades is obvious.
However, if we change the starting point, we can consider the population of the country as a part of the landscape, which the parasitic ethnos exploits along with animals, plants and valuable minerals. But such a point of view can hardly be accepted by anyone except those interested in this exploitation, and besides, it is constantly refuted by history. Although the institution of slavery is constantly observed, isolated situations of ethnic parasitism have rarely been stable and long-lived, but have often been reproduced anew.
Thus, even the presence of exceptional ethnoses, as if unrelated to nature, does not undermine the basic thesis of the connection of an ethnos with the landscape, especially since passive perceptions of, for example, climatic conditions, epidemics or food patterns are the same for parasitic ethnoses as they are for ethnoses dealing directly with the nature of their region. Therefore, in order to create a single ethnos on the entire planet it is necessary to destroy zonality, cyclonic movements of the atmosphere, the difference between forest and steppe and, of course, mountains and valleys. But, fortunately, this is not possible.
Interethnic collisions cannot be attributed to either biological or exclusively social categories, whereas the explanation we propose follows from the phenomenon of passionarity as a modus of biochemical energy of the biosphere's living matter that we have already described. Four variants of ethnic contacts at the level of super-ethnos are possible, and it is clear that the determining factor is the degree of passionary tension of the contacting ethnoses.
If we observe a combination of a persistent, where the passionarity is low, with a passionately tense ethnos, then the weak ethnos is most likely to be assimilated or displaced. If there are two or more weak-passionate ethnoses, they find a modus vivendi and do not suppress each other. If they are strong but equally passionate, mestization occurs, and the superposition of rhythms deforms the stereotype of behavior and makes it advantageous for the individual to the detriment of the collective; usually such collectives are subject to annihilation, because everyone tends to live at the expense of others. But if, in the presence of mestization, a passionary push occurs, the increased lability of mutated populations allows a new stereotype of behavior, a new structure and, consequently, new variants of socio-political institutions, in other words, a new ethnicity, to emerge. This process can be compared, on the one hand, with a chemical reaction that begins only in the presence of a catalyst and at a sufficiently high temperature, and, on the other hand, with a creative process in psychology that emerges in the sphere of emotions (subconsciousness).
It follows that ethnic (not at all racial) the mestization cannot be considered unambiguously. In some circumstances of place and time it destroys ethnic substrata, in others it deforms, in others it transforms into a new ethnicity. But it never goes away. That is why neglect of ethnology, whether on the scale of a state, a clan union or a monogamous family, should be qualified as carelessness, criminal in relation to posterity.
XXVIII. The Nature of Passionarity
THE STUDY OF V. I. VERNADSKY'S DOCTRINE OF THE BIOSPHERE
Having posed the question of the energetic essence of ethnogenesis, we must show what form of energy creates these processes. But in order to do this it is necessary to renounce certain philistine notions and replace them with scientific notions. Instead of the usual attitude to ourselves as an independent organism, even if constantly interacting with other organisms, "we must express living organisms as something whole and unified, for they are all a function of the biosphere ... and a huge geological force defining it"[15].
The organisms inhabiting the Earth are not only a collection of individuals, but also "living matter" that is "connected with the environment by the biogenic current of atoms: its respiration, nourishment and reproduction".
The biosphere, according to Vernadsky's teachings, is not only a film of "living matter" on the surface of the planet, but also all the products of its life activity over geological time: soils, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and free air oxygen. We walk on the corpses of our ancestors; we breathe the life of those who died long ago, and we ourselves will enter this element to be breathed by our descendants. "All life is a continually changing aggregate of organisms, bound together and subject to an evolutionary process over geological time. It is a dynamic equilibrium tending, in the course of time, to change into a static equilibrium... The longer the existence, if there are no equal phenomena acting in the opposite direction, the closer to zero will be the free energy".
In order to understand this principle, it is necessary to assimilate another circumstance. The solid matter of the planet is subject to the law of increasing entropy. Living matter, on the contrary, has anti-entropic properties. And all this diversity of living and cosmic matter is connected with "biogenic migration of atoms" or "biochemical energy of living matter of the biosphere". This form of energy is just as real and effective as other forms studied by physicists. And it, like them, obeys the law of conservation of energy, i.e. it can be expressed in calories or kilogram-meters. Over geological time, our planet has been enriched in energy by absorbing: 1) the radiant energy of the Sun; 2) the atomic energy of radioactive decay within the Earth; and 3) the cosmic energy of scattered elements emanating from our galaxy[16].
And this form of energy causes organisms to multiply to the possible limits, just as a single petal of cussweed that appears in a pond in spring is enough to cover its entire surface to its natural limit - the banks - by fall. The same law of marginal distribution applies to all living beings of the biosphere, and thus to humans as well.
However, the biosphere itself puts limits on the organisms that make it up. The biosphere is mosaic: some species of animals or plants limit others, and a harmony of life emerges - a dynamic equilibrium of biocenoses of larger and smaller scales. Climatic conditions on Earth are varied. They are determined by zonality, remoteness from the oceans, changes in the characteristics of atmospheric pressure - the origin of cyclones and other reasons. And if so, there is a need for organisms to adapt, which limits the possibility of spreading already territorially. Therefore, geobiocenoses, which can be interpreted as complex systems of living and indispensable elements, are stable. In them there are constant processes that ensure the circulation of energy among plants and animals of the same habitat, i.e. the conversion of the biocenosis.
But people are also part of biocenoses. The strength of the ethnic community, which crowns any biocoenosis, is devoted to overcoming such constantly arising difficulties. In its quiet state, it is devoid of aggression towards its neighbors and is incapable of active changes of nature, which contributes to the increase of its members by means of intensive reproduction. This is how the ethnos as a system is created, so that the co-subordination of individuals is a condition of existence. But the same passionarity pushes people to mutual extermination for the sake of dominance in the system; and then the passionate tension decreases until it reaches zero. After that, the inertia of the movement, rooted in social institutions and traditions, keeps the system alive, but it is doomed and goes into homeostasis. So, all "stagnant" ethnoses were once developing, and those ethnoses that are developing now will, if not disappear, become "stable" someday.
The vast majority of ethnic groups, without regard to their numbers, inhabit or have inhabited certain territories, forming part of the biocenosis of a given landscape and constituting with it a kind of "closed system". Others, developing and reproducing, expand beyond their biocenosis, but this expansion ends in their becoming ethnoses of the first type in a newly developed but stabilized area of adaptation. There is a complete analogy with the cosmic processes of thermodynamics: "In a closed system entropy continuously increases. Consequently, an organism (or a system of organisms - ethnos. - L.G.) must systematically remove the accumulating entropy. Therefore, living matter must constantly exchange energy and entropy with the environment. This exchange is regulated by control systems, which use information reserves for this purpose. It is absolutely improbable that information stores arise in an organism or system spontaneously. Consequently, they are inherited"[17].
As shown above, the transmission of information by inheritance noted by physicists is called "tradition" in the language of historians, and "signal inheritance" in the language of biologists. Based on everything noted above, ethnogenesis is an energetic process, and passionarity is the effect of the form of energy that fuels ethnogenesis.
MUTATIONS ARE PASSIONAL PUSHES.
But calm states of geobiocenoses are not eternal. They are interrupted by spasms of strange activity, destructive to its bearers. Grasshoppers galloping peacefully through the meadow suddenly turn into locusts, which fly towards death, destroying everything in their path. The tropical ants leave their well-appointed dwellings and move on, destroying everything they find... only to perish along the way. Lemmings walk hundreds of miles to throw themselves into the waves of the ocean. Microorganisms... do the same, creating devastating epidemics. How do we explain these strange phenomena? Apparently, we should again turn to the works of Vernadsky on biogeochemistry.
The first biogeochemical principle states: "The biogenic migration of the atoms of chemical elements in the biosphere always seeks to maximize its manifestation. All living matter on the planet is a source of free energy, can produce work", of course, in the physical sense, and by "free energy" V. I. Vernadsky understands "the energy of living matter, which manifests itself in the opposite direction to entropy. For the action of living matter creates the development of free energy capable of producing work." Consequently, our planet receives from the cosmos more energy than is necessary to maintain the balance of the biosphere, which leads to excesses that generate among animals the phenomena described above, and among people - passionary shocks, or explosions of ethnogenesis.
An obligatory condition for the emergence and flow of the process of ethnogenesis (up to its attenuation, after which the ethnos turns into a relic) is passionarity, i.e. the ability to purposeful super-stresses. So far we can explain it only by accepting a hypothesis, i.e. a judgment explaining the noted facts, but not excluding the possibility of other explanations: passionarity is an innate ability of an organism to absorb energy of the external environment and give it out in the form of work. In humans, this ability fluctuates so strongly that sometimes its impulses break the instinct of self-preservation, both individual and species, due to which some people, in our terminology - passionarians, do and cannot help doing things that lead to changes in their environment. This change applies equally to the natural environment and to relations within human communities, i.e., ethnic groups. Consequently, passionarity has an energetic nature, and the psyche of the individual only transforms impulses at its level, stimulating the increased activity of the carriers of passionarity, creating and destroying landscapes, peoples and cultures.
Our statement is by no means paradoxical. It is based on indisputable provisions of physiology. I. M. Sechenov defined the role of environment as a physiological factor: "An organism without external environment supporting its existence is impossible, therefore, the scientific definition of an organism must include the environment influencing it"[18]. And if so, the energy balance of the environment cannot be excluded from consideration.
Of course, the energy necessary for vital activity is obtained by the organism not only through nutrition, which maintains body temperature and regenerates dying cells. After all, breathing, i.e. oxidative processes in the lungs, is no less necessary for body life. The same should be said about interaction with other forms of energy: electric energy (cover ionization), light, radiation, gravity. All of them affect the body differently, but one cannot live without any of them. This is why the mechanism of recycling environmental energy into body energy is a subject of physiology. For ethnology there is another important question: why in humans, unlike animals, is there such a large variation in the degree of activity?
Here it is possible to propose two equal hypotheses. Either the passionate individual captures more energy than the normal one, or it directs the energy in a concentrated way (unconsciously, of course) to achieve one or another goal.
In both cases the result will be the same: the higher nervous activity of an individual will be more active than that characteristic of the normal, inherent to the species as such.
Thus, if social conditions determine the direction of human actions, then their energetic tension depends on the state of the organism, including genetically determined traits. Here we come into contact with some phenomena of biology: the emergence of a new trait that appeared suddenly not due to mixing. This means that the explosion of passionarity (or passionary impulse) is accompanied by a mutagenic shift, generating a variety of deviations from the norm. However, most of the physical and mental freaks die without consequences, but passionarity, being also a product of mutation, in this sense - the exception.
Я. Я. Roginsky and M.G. Levin, noting the small plasticity of racial traits compared to non-racial traits, nevertheless point out the presence of even racial somatic changes that have arisen in addition to mestization over a historical period[19]. Changes in traits are either due to adaptation to new conditions or to mutations.
In the latter case, a useful trait is preserved, while a harmful one is removed by natural selection. Passionarity is a trait that is non-racial and harmful, if not destructive, both for the carrier and for his relatives. And here's why. If wars take place outside the country, the passionarians go on long journeys, leaving their families, whose economy is in decline. Such was the case in sixteenth-century Spain, when the conquistadors fought in Anahuaca, Peru, the Philippines, and regular troops in the Netherlands and France. The shortage of skilled workers was so acute that even nails for building ships had to be bought in the Netherlands and Germany. A hundred years before, Toledo's armor was considered the best in Europe.
But that was not the worst of it. Passionate overheating often results in bloody feuds, in which not only rivals become victims, but also their families. Such are the Guelph and Ghibelline wars in Europe and the era of the "war of the kingdoms" (403-221 B.C.) in China[20]. In these and similar wars the survivors were not those who fought, but those who could skillfully hide. However, the peculiarities of passionarity as a trait consist, among other things, in the fact that it lingers in the population due to the presence of the so-called "illegitimate children," who inherit biological rather than social features of their parents. The presence of systemic connections, both rigid (social) and corpuscular (ethnic), increases the importance of the trait for the system as a whole, whether it is a "social organism" [21] or a super-ethnos. After all, the degree of impact on the natural environment and ethnic environment depends not only on the level of technology, but also on the passional tension of the ethnos as an integrity undergoing a particular phase of ethnogenesis. But, moreover, G.F. Debets[22] and I.A. and N.N. Cheboksarov point out that mutations do not cover all Oikumen, but certain geographical regions: "Our ancestors had brown skin, black hair, brown eyes, and blondes with light eyes appeared by mutations, concentrated mainly in Northern Europe near shores of the Baltic and Northern seas"[23].
But whether this mutation differs from passionary impulses in anything, except that they arise somewhat more often?
It would be easy to brush aside the answer to a question on an origin of mutations and the reason of mutagenesis. Biologists themselves do not answer this question, rightly citing that the data they obtain in the experiment, i.e., artifact, and the mechanical transfer of patterns traced in the laboratory to what we see in nature, are unjustified. But our science of ethnology has an absolute chronology, and with such a tool we can achieve some useful results.
Since we have equated the passionate jolt with a micromutation, by examining the dates and ranges of the jolts historically, we can enrich biology with data that biologists can interpret from their own perspectives. It was clearly shown above that biological micromutations, and in the language of ethnology - formation of super-ethnoses, associated with passionate shocks[24], always capture the zone of the Earth's surface, stretched in meridional or latitudinal direction at any angle to the meridian and latitude. But whatever landscape zones are found in this territory: mountains, deserts, sea gulfs, etc., it remains monolithic. Landscapes and ethnic substrata determine only the fact that two, three, four different super-ethnoses can emerge in the territory covered by the explosion of passionarity in the same era. The transfer of the passionarity trait through hybridization is a foregone conclusion, since the latter would certainly affect the anthropological type of mestizos. Terrestrial barriers also rule out cultural exchange and borrowing by imitation. Both would be easy to trace in works of art and material culture.
Obviously, we are encountering a special phenomenon that requires a special description. Recall that a new super-ethnos (or ethnos) emerges from the obligatory mixing of several ethnic substrates. But doesn't this remind us of a simple electric battery, in which zinc, copper and acid must be present to produce current? This is of course a metaphor, but after all it illustrates an energetic process gradually attenuating due to the resistance of the medium. But if so, the impulse must also be energetic, and since it seems to be unrelated to terrestrial natural and social conditions, its origin can only be extraplanetary[25].
When you look at the areas of passionary explosions, you get an impression as if the globe is dissected by some ray, and - from one side only, while the distribution of passionary push was limited by the planet's curvature. At the place of the "blow" a variety of mutants appear, most of which are not viable and disappear in the first generation. Passionaries are also outside the norm, but the peculiarities of passionarity are such that before it is eliminated by natural selection, it leaves a mark in ethnic history and in the history of art and literature, because both are the product of the life of the ethnos.
Other hypotheses can be put forward for the origin of passionate explosions or tremors: random fluctuations, the presence of a wandering gene, a reaction to an exogenous agent. However, the facts contradict all of the above. It is possible that the hypothesis stated here will not be confirmed either, but this will in no way affect the application of the concept of the energetic nature of ethnogenesis to the urgent problems of geography and history.
"JOINTS" OF LANDSCAPES
Let us return to the problem of the relationship between ethnos and landscape and answer the question posed by our readers[26]: why for the emergence of a new ethnos the combination of two or more landscapes, two or more ethnoses, two or more "social organisms" is mandatory? What is this: a series of accidents or a pattern?
The analysis of the interaction of ethnos as an independent phenomenon with landscape has shown that both of them are inversely related, but neither ethnos is a constantly acting landscape-forming factor, nor landscape without extraneous influence can be a cause of ethnogenesis. The correlation of ethnic and social laws excludes even an inverse relationship, because the Earth's ethnosphere is only a background, not a factor, for social development.
Unlike social laws, for ethnogenesis the territorial moment is decisive, but in each new case it is a new region, as long as it meets the conditions noted above. The formation of peoples is polycentric; outbreaks of ethnogenesis are connected not with the culture and life of peoples in development or stagnation, not with their racial composition, not with the level of economy and technology, but with special conditions of space and time. The landscape itself does not generate new ethnoses, because they sometimes do not arise in this or that, even if very comfortable, place for thousands of years. The regions of ethnogenesis are always changing. Here and there the process we are interested in starts, so it is not caused by terrestrial forces. Consequently, we must look for the source of ethnogenesis in the environment of planet Earth and again turn to biogeochemistry.
Based on our thesis on the nature of the ethnos as a system generated by an explosion of passionarity, we have the right to define the ethnos as an energetic phenomenon. Since a beginning energetic process always overcomes the inertia of the processes that preceded it, it is natural that the lower the inertia, the easier it is to break it with an unexpected push.
Monotonous landscapes with homogeneous ethnic populations and a unifying tradition embodied in forms of political institutions are massifs that respond very little to relatively weak shocks. But with a combination of landscapes, a combination of different modes of economy is inevitable. Some people fish on the sea, others graze cattle in the mountains, still others sow bread in the fields, still others cultivate vineyards in the valleys. Even if they all have the same ancestors, the need to adapt to different environmental conditions in a few generations will make them little resemble each other. And this dissimilarity will increase until the systemic ties between them weaken, because of the simultaneous progressive movement of society based on the development of productive forces and production relations, which, in its turn, inevitably entails the renewal of the obsolete social system. If, due to the vicissitudes of historical destiny, a given ethnos had two or three states or tribal unions, the stability of the system would be even less. Thus, social and ethnic lines of development are intertwined in the system.
Such systems, due to the division of labor and specialization, are very productive in terms of economic development: they have a good resistance to the ethnic environment, i.e. neighbors trying to conquer them, because the habit of mutual exchange of products extends to mutual assistance, but the passionate push, as a rule, overturns them with amazing ease. Equally favorable to the triggers of ethnogenesis is the combination of different cultural levels, types of economy, and dissimilar traditions. The common point here is the principle of diversity, which can be interpreted in the aspect of interest to us.
Let us imagine the ethnosphere as a combination of several broad plates touching each other. This structure is struck vertically. Naturally, it is not the plates that are destroyed first, but the contacts between them, and then there is a chain reaction that deforms the plates themselves. Example: Byzantium and Iran in the VI-VII centuries were stable systems, and the border region between them, populated by Arabs, experienced their impact.
The passionary push reshuffled the Arabs so that a group (consortium) of Muhammad's supporters stood out. Over four generations, first an ethnos and then a super-ethnos from the Ebro to the Pamir was created.
As the individuals of the new mood interact with each other, an integrity immediately emerges, one-tuned emotionally, psychologically and behaviorally, which is obviously based on a biophysical phenomenon. Most likely, we are dealing here with a peculiar unified rhythm. It is what is perceived by observers as something new, unaccustomed, not their own. Conquest is not the only form of ethnic dissemination and introduction of foreigners to their system. Cultural transplantation is known in the form of preaching religion and as the introduction of objects of everyday life or art, which changes the system that is the object of influence.
The baptism of the Slavs in 988 led to the expansion of the ethno-cultural area of Byzantium; the sale of opium and kerosene lamps in China made it dependent on England and America, shaken the household, then the state power and finally the super-ethnic system of the Qing Empire, which entailed not only political and social changes, but also ethnic ones, such as the assimilation of the Manchus by the Chinese.
So, the passionary impulse for the emergence of ethnogenesis is mandatory, and the diversity observed in reality is determined by landscape, climatic conditions, ethnic neighborhood, cultural traditions, as well as the strength of the impulse itself, i.e. the impulse. That is why all ethnoses are original and unique, although the processes of ethnogenesis are similar in character and direction.
THOUGHTS ON THE NOOSPHERE
As has been repeatedly noted, the conscious activity of people plays no less a role in historical processes than the emotional one, but their nature differs fundamentally. An unselfish pursuit of truth generates scientific discoveries that determine the possibility of technical improvements and thus create the prerequisites for the growth of productive forces. The fascination with beauty shapes the psyche of both the artist and the viewer. The thirst for justice stimulates social restructuring.
In short, "the human mind, which is not a form of energy, but produces actions that seem to respond to it,"[27] becomes the impulse of a phenomenon called progress, and is therefore related to the social form of the movement of matter. The connection between these two forms of movement of matter, which are present in every historical event, large or small, is obvious. According to V. I. Vernadsky, it is the evolution of species that leads to the creation of forms of life that are stable in the biosphere (the second biochemical principle), and, consequently, directed (progressive) development is a planetary phenomenon.
In short, "the human mind, which is not a form of energy, but produces actions that seem to respond to it,"[27] becomes the impulse of a phenomenon called progress, and is therefore related to the social form of the movement of matter. The connection between these two forms of movement of matter, which are present in every historical event, large or small, is obvious. According to V. I. Vernadsky, it is the evolution of species that leads to the creation of forms of life that are stable in the biosphere (the second biochemical principle), and, consequently, directed (progressive) development is a planetary phenomenon.
But the fruits of human hands have an inherent difference from the creations of nature. They fall out of the conversion of biocenoses, where there is a constant exchange of matter and energy that maintains biocenoses as systemic wholenesses. Human creativity tears particles of matter from nature and throws them into the fetters of forms. Stones turn into pyramids or Parfenovs, wool into jackets, metal into sabers and tanks. And these objects are devoid of self-development; they can only collapse. This fundamental difference between nature and technology in the broad sense was pointed out by S. V. Kalesnik, who also pointed out that not all human creations are like this[29]. A field of wheat, a ditch, a herd of cows, or a domestic cat remain as part of the geographical environment, despite human impact.
So, the anthroposphere occupies an intermediate position between the dead technosphere and living nature. But as soon as it is so, they are in opposition. And here it is appropriate to introduce Y.K. Efremov's correction to the assessment of the "noosphere", which he called "sociosphere": "Is the "sphere of reason" so reasonable? After all, its development leads to the replacement of living processes that enriched our planet with reserves of condensed energy hidden in soils and sedimentary rocks, in hard coal and oil. The rapid life of microorganisms has given us an oxygen atmosphere and an ozone layer that saves us from killer cosmic radiation. The plants that cover the earth are photosynthesis factories, recycling light to living matter. Animals ~- our smaller brothers regulate biocenoses and give them stability"[30].
And what has the noosphere given us, even if it does exist? From the Paleolithic we are left with numerous flint flakes and occasional dropped scrapers and choppers; from the Neolithic we are left with trash heaps at settlement sites. Even when ancient structures have survived to our time, such as the pyramids or the Acropolis, they are always inert structures, destroying relatively slowly. And yet technology and its products are the objectification of the mind.
In short, no matter how we feel about the idea of the existence of the noosphere, the polarity of technology and life is undeniable.
NOTES
[1] Rychkov Y.G. Anthropology and genetics of isolated populations (Ancient Isolates of the Pamirs). M., 1969; Altukhov, Y.P., and Rychkov, Y.G. Population systems and their structural components: Genetic stability and variability, in Russian // Journal of General Biology. 1970. VOL. XXXI. - 5. С. 507-526.
[2] The provisions of biology given here are the result of the author's conversations with B.S. Kuzin, a doctor of biological sciences, to whom I am grateful for advice and explanations of purely special problems.
[3] Akinshchikova G.I. Somatic and psychophysiological organization of the human being. Л., 1977. С. 94.
[4] Ibid. С. 99.
[5] Simonov P. V. The higher nervous activity of a person. М., 1975. С. 31-32 [6] Ibid.
[7] Poets managed to write in two or three languages or in some hybrid languages that included their elements.
[8] The terminology of S.A. Arutyunov and N.N. Cheboksarov (see: Arutyunov S. A,Cheboksarov I. N. Ethnic Processes and Information // Nature. 1972. N 7. С. 58-63.
[9] Muller A. History of Islam: In 4 vol. Т. 4. SPb., 1896. С. 228.
[10] Chimera - a demon with a lion's head, a goat's torso and a dragon's tail. In the penultimate sense - a combination of elements organically unconnected.
[11] Artamonov M.I. Bulgarian cultures of the Northern and Western Black Sea coast // Reports of VGO. Vyp. 15. Л., 1970. С. 12-13.
[12] Weber G. The Universal History, 2nd ed. Т. 2. М.. 1894. С. 597.
[13] Ibid. С. 657.
[14] Ibid. Т. 4. М.. 1898. С. 224.
[15] Vernadsky V. I. The chemical structure of the Earth's biosphere and its environment. (references to the corresponding paragraphs of this work are given in the text).
[16] Ibid. С. 283.
[17] Spiridonov M.N. At the forefront of space science // Nature. 1966. -8. С. 112.
[18] Sechenoe I.M., Pavlov I.P., Vvedensky N.E. Physiology of nervous system / Edited by Acad. K.M. Bykov. М., 1952. С. 142.
[19] Roginsky Ya. Ya., Levin M.G. Fundamentals of anthropology. С. 465-468.
[20] Gumilev L.N. The Three Kingdoms in China // VGO Reports. Vyp. 5. Л., 1968.
[21] Semenov Y.I. The Category of "Social Organism" and its Significance for Historical Science // Voprosy Istorii. 1966. - 8.
[22] Debitz G.S. On some directions of changes in the structure of man-modern species //Soviet ethnography. 1961. -2.
[23] Che6oksarov N.N., Cheboksarova I.A. Peoples, Races, Cultures. М., 1971. С.121.
[24] In total, seven passionary impulses are traced after N.E. and, judging by the phases of ethnogenesis, the same number of them are traced for the preceding two thousand years (for details, see Fig. 5, p. 413).
[25] According to M.M. Ermolaev, who described the Earth's circumplanetary shells, when the ionosphere becomes thinner, cosmic rays can reach the Earth's surface. The question of the significance of such accidental strikes from Cosmos remains to be solved (see: Ermolaev M.M. On the Borders and Structure of Geographical Space // Izvestiya VGO. Vol. 5. 1969).
[26] Semevsky B.N. Interaction of the system "man - nature" // Nature. Anthropology and Genetics of Isolated Populations (Ancient Isolates of the Pamirs). M., 1969', Altukhov Yu.P., Rychkov Yu.G. Population systems and their structural components: genetic stability and variability // Journal of General Biology. 1970. VOL. XXXI. - 5. С. 507-526.
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[29] Kolesnik S.V. (1) Problem of geographical environment // Vestnik LSU. 1968. -12. С. 91-96; 2) A few more words about geographical environment //Vedomosti VGO. 1966. -3. С. 247- 250.
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